Hope Square,[1] located outside the Liverpool Street tube station in London, England is the site of a memorial to honour the Jewish children who arrived at the station after being rescued and transported from their home countries of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Poland to England before the outbreak of World War II.[2] Almost 10,000 Jewish children were sent unaccompanied by their parents to the safety of England[3] as the discrimination against Jewish people by the Nazi Germans escalated.[4] Unveiled in 2003,[5] the first sculpture entitled "Fur das Kind" and designed by Flor Kent was to remind people of the "anxious beginnings"[6] of the children who left behind their families and country. This first sculpture had a life-sized bronze statue of a six-year-old girl standing next to a large oxygen-free glass suitcase that displayed keepsakes donated by kindertransports.[7] After the artefacts displayed in the glass suitcase began to deteriorate, a new sculpture replaced the first sculpture in 2006. Frank Meisler, the designer of the second sculpture, was one of the Kinder children who arrived at the Liverpool Street Station in 1939.[8] Meisler's "Kindertransport – the arrival" memorial statue is also in bronze and portrays five children arriving at the station with one suitcase each, designed to tell their story and how they felt as they arrived.[9] The statue sits on a low pedestal, which Meisler intentionally designed for people to sit at and become immersed in the kindertransport.[10] There are bronze blocks around the base of the memorial listing the cities from which the children were transported.[11] In addition to honouring the kindertransports, Meisler also acknowledged the sacrifice their parents had made in allowing their children to be taken to a new country with the knowledge that they likely would never see them again.[12]
[1] "Kindertransport – the arrival Memorial," 6 Million Memorials, http://www.6millionmemorials.co.uk/uk-holocaust-memorials/kindertransport-memorial---liverpool-st-london.
[2] "Kindertransport Story." Frank Meisler, http://frank-meisler.com/kindertransport/.
[3] "Kindertransport Story." Frank Meisler.
[4] "Kindertransport Story." Frank Meisler.
[5] Ruth Rothenberg, "Kindertransport Statue Unveiled," The Jewish Chronicle, https://web.archive.org/web/20160921152720/http:/website.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=18059&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=%2B%2Bkindertransport%2B&srchtxt=0&srchhead=1&srchauthor=0&srchsandp=0&scsrch=0.
[6] Rothenberg, "Kindertransport Statue Unveiled."
[7] "Kindertransport Story." Frank Meisler.
[8] "New Kindertransport Statue Installed," The Association of Jewish Refugees, https://web.archive.org/web/20170202005243/http:/www.ajr.org.uk/index.cfm/section.journal/issue.Nov06/article%3D711.
[9] "New Kindertransport Statue Installed," The Association of Jewish Refugees.
[10] "Kindertransport: A Journey to Life (2012) – Newsnight," Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqP0uVSj3bQ&feature=youtu.be.
[11] "New Kindertransport Statue Installed," The Association of Jewish Refugees.
[12] "New Kindertransport Statue Installed," The Association of Jewish Refugees.
List of Sources
Fletcher, Rachel. "Kindertransport monument derailed at Liverpool Street." The Jewish Chronicle.
"Kindertransport: A Journey to Life (2012) – Newsnight." Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqP0uVSj3bQ&feature=youtu.be.
"Kindertransport Story." Frank Meisler. http://frank-meisler.com/kindertransport/.
"Kindertransport – the arrival Memorial." 6 Million Memorials. http://www.6millionmemorials.co.uk/uk-holocaust-memorials/kindertransport-memorial---liverpool-st-london.
"New Kindertransport Statue Installed." The Association of Jewish Refugees.
Rothenberg, Ruth. "Kindertransport Statue Unveiled." The Jewish Chronicle. https://web.archive.org/web/20160921152720/http:/website.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=18059&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=%2B%2Bkindertransport%2B&srchtxt=0&srchhead=1&srchauthor=0&srchsandp=0&scsrch=0.
The term kindertransport refers to the humanitarian effort to save the lives of 10,000 primarily Jewish children who were transported, unaccompanied by their parents, to Britain after the British government agreed to take in the children as long as they were financially sponsored by private citizens or by charitable organizations. The Liverpool Street Station was one of the primary destinations for these children who were transported from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and the area between Poland and Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II.[1] The children were only allowed to bring one suitcase and only a few keepsakes such as their stuffed bear or a photo. The keepsakes and clothing that the children brought with them are their memory of their last moments with their past, and frequently symbolized loss as well as survivor's guilt.[2] While this rescue effort saved the lives of these children, it must be acknowledged that their lives were altered forever. The children were told to be grateful for the generosity of their sponsors and they were told to forget their past. Many people did not view these children as survivors of the Holocaust, and there was a perception that nothing bad had happened to them because they had been brought to safety in England.[3] However, these children had lost their families, their friends, their language, their country, and their religion; and, many felt guilty that they had survived.[4] In the documentary, "Kindertransport: A Journey to Life," Gertrude Flavelle reflects on her experience when she arrived at Liverpool Street Station after leaving Vienna at age eleven. Gertrude describes that while her life was saved, she does not remember a night when she did not cry and she cannot remember ever being hugged by her new foster parents.[5] Frank Meisler, the sculptor for the 'Kindertransport – the arrival' memorial, and one of the kinder who arrived at the Liverpool Street Station from Vienna at age twelve, remarked that "we entered the train in our hometown as children and left the train as adults because from here on we were responsible for our own lives for the rest of our lives."[6] While the kindertransport rescue mission saved their lives, it is important to recognize that these children did experience significant loss and trauma.
[1] Andrea Hammel, "Child Refugees Forever? The History of the Kindertransport to Britain 1938/39," Diskurs Kindheits- Und Jugendforschung 5, no. 2 (2010): 134.
[2] Mona Körte and Toby Axelrod, "Bracelet, Hand Towel, Pocket Watch: Objects of the Last Moment in Memory and Narration," Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 23, no. 1 (2004): 113-115.
[3] Körte and Axelrod, "Bracelet, Hand Towel, Pocket Watch," 115.
[4] Körte and Axelrod, "Bracelet, Hand Towel, Pocket Watch," 120.
[5] "Kindertransport: A Journey to Life (2012) – Newsnight," Youtube.
[6] "Kindertransport: A Journey to Life (2012) – Newsnight," Youtube.
List of Sources
Hammel, Andrea. "Child Refugees Forever? The History of the Kindertransport to Britain 1938/39." Diskurs Kindheits- Und Jugendforschung 5, no. 2 (June 2010): 131–43.
"Kindertransport: A Journey to Life (2012) – Newsnight." Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqP0uVSj3bQ&feature=youtu.be.
Körte, Mona and Toby Axelrod. "Bracelet, Hand Towel, Pocket Watch: Objects of the Last Moment in Memory and Narration." Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 23, no. 1 (Fall 2004): 109–20. doi:10.1353/sho.2005.0027.
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